Ninjatō

The Template:Nihongo is alleged to be the preferred weapon of the shinobi of feudal Japan. It is portrayed by modern ninjutsu practitioners (including Masaaki Hatsumi<ref name="MH">Template:Cite book</ref> and Stephen K. Hayes) as the weapon of the ninja and features prominently in popular culture.<ref name="SKH">Template:Cite book</ref> 20th-century examples of this sword are displayed at the Koka Ninja Village Museum in Kōka, Shiga,<ref name="Tour of Koka">Template:Cite web</ref> at the Gifu Castle Archives Museum in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan<ref name="Gifu Castle, Gifu, Japan">Template:Cite web</ref> and at the Ninja Museum of Igaryu,<ref name="Japan National Tourism Organization">Template:Cite web</ref> established in the mid-1960s.<ref name="igaryu">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Ueno City Tourist Associaton">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Tour of Iga">Template:Cite web</ref>

Historically, there is no evidence for the existence of this "katana-like short sword legendarily used by ninja" before the 20th century.<ref name="StageCombat">Template:Cite book</ref> Instead, the designs demonstrated by alleged replicas may be based on the design of wakizashi or chokutō swords or the swords associated with ashigaru—common infantrymen with no "ninja" aspects.<ref name="DK"/>

History

Because of the lack of any physical evidence or antique swords from the Sengoku to the 20th century matching the description of the ninjatō,<ref name="DK"/> the history of the weapon can only be chronicled reliably from the 20th century onwards.

• 1956: The first known photograph of a straight-blade "ninja" sword is featured in a 26-page Japanese booklet entitled Ninjutsu by Heishichirō Okuse.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1964: The sword appears in the Japanese jidaigeki movie series Shinobi no Mono—Template:Nihongo and Template:Nihongo, the 4th and 5th entries in the series—released in theaters in Japan. That same year, the Ninja Museum of Igaryu in Japan, which houses 20th-century examples of the sword, is established.<ref name="igaryu"/>
• 1973: Ads selling newly manufactured and imported "ninja" swords appear in the American magazine Black Belt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1981: Books containing references to the sword written by Masaaki Hatsumi, the founder of the Bujinkan,<ref name="MH"/> and Stephen K. Hayes,<ref name="SKH"/> an American who studied under Hatsumi in 1975,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> are published.
• 1981: The first Hollywood film to feature the ninjatō, Enter the Ninja, was released in theaters.
• 1983: The next Hollywood film to feature the ninjatō, Revenge of the Ninja, was released in theaters in September 1983.
• 1984: The first American television production to feature these swords, The Master, was broadcast on NBC from January to August 1984.

Appearance

Ninjatō-wielding Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura entertainers, October 2010

The ninjatō is typically depicted as being a short sword, often portrayed as having a straight blade (similar to that of a shikomizue)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a square guard.<ref name="DK"/> Usually of a length "less than 60 cm", the rest of the sword is comparatively "thick, heavy and straight". Despite the disputed historical existence of the ninjato,<ref name="StageCombat"/> Hayes claims to describe it in detail, and states that the typical description of the ninjatō could be due to ninja having to forge their own blades from slabs of steel or iron with the cutting edge being ground on a stone, with Hayes alleging that straight blades were easier to form than the much more refined curved traditional Japanese sword. His second offered reason for ninjatō being described as a straight-bladed, rather short sword is that the ninja were emulating one of the patron Buddhist deities of ninja families, Fudo Myo-oh, who, per Hayes, is depicted brandishing a straight-bladed short sword similar to a chokutō.<ref>Lore of the Shinobi Warrior, Stephen Hayes. Black Belt Communications, Nov 1, 1989P.22.</ref>

Usage

Due to the lack of historical evidence regarding the existence of the ninjatō, techniques for usage in a martial context are largely speculative. When used in film and stage, ninjatō are depicted as being shorter than a katana with a straight blade but they are utilized in a "nearly identical" manner as the katana.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Books and other written materials have described a number of possible ways to use the sword including "fast draw techniques centered around drawing the sword and cutting as a simultaneous defensive or attacking action",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with "a thrust fencing technique",<ref name="WJ"/> and with a "reverse grip".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Contemporary sources allege the scabbard was used for various purposes, such as a respiration pipe (snorkel) in underwater activities or for secretly overhearing conversations.<ref name="WJ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The scabbard is also said to have been longer than the blade of the ninjatō in order to hide various objects such as chemicals used to blind pursuers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The tsuba (hand guard) of the ninjato is described in one contemporary source as being larger than average and square instead of the much more common round tsuba. One source's belief about the ninjatō tsuba size and shape is that the user would lean the sword against a wall and would use the tsuba as a step to extend his normal reach, and the sword would then be retrieved by pulling it up by the sageo (saya cord).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" />

"Ninja swords" ban in the United Kingdom

In 2025, the British government banned the possession, manufacture, import and selling of knives deemed "ninja swords", describing the "majority" of the banned weapons as having "a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches with one straight cutting edge with a tanto style point."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Literature

• A Glossary of Arms and Armor, ed. George C. Stone, Southworth Press, 1961, p. 469

External links

• Nihonto message board forum
• Ninjatō at the Koka Ninja Village Museum